The invention relates generally to interactive books and devices and, more particularly, to interactive books and devices in which sensory outputs are provided for each page of the book or layout of the device.
A book can be more fun as an amusement device and more effective as an educational tool when it has features that not only engage the attention of the user but also encourage the creativity of the user. Books with various interactive features have been proposed in the past. One such book is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,974 to DeSmet. This patent discloses a book usable with an audio player assembly that provides audio outputs relevant to material on the printed page in response to actuation of any of a series of buttons. One button provides an audible reading of the text on the page of the book. Another button provides an audible question pertaining to the information given in the written text. The remaining two buttons provide choices of answers to the question.
Another example of an interactive book is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,092 to Cummings. This patent discloses a book having a series of buttons mounted along the outer edge of the bottom cover. Each button is programmed to provide an audio output relevant to a corresponding page of the book.
Yet another example interactive book is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,374 to Simone. This patent discloses a book device having an audio program source that provides audio outputs either of the text on a particular page of the book or a question pertaining to that text. A user answers any question by actuating any of a plurality of answer buttons.
Other interactive books have been proposed as well. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,881 to Brefka et at., U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,246 to Jeng, U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,508 to McTaggart and PCT Publication No. WO 91/06090 (Billings et at.).
These known interactive books, however, do not provide a mechanism that maximizes the amount of sensory outputs available to the user. Nor do these known books enable creative combination of the sensory outputs by the user. Consequently, the interaction between the user and the book is not as great as it could be and the user is more likely to grow bored or to lose concentration.